Chris Stout
Chris likes not having any free time. +Chris Stout Email: cstout76@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.manjr.com
Posts by Chris Stout
Interview with WPT’s Vince Van Patten
Vince Van Patten is an interesting dude. The guy can trace his lineage back to King Roland of the Planet Druidia (Princess Vespa’s father in Spaceballs), but he’s true royalty in his own right. The “King of the Hollywood Home Game” started acting when he was 9 years old, appearing in stuff like Bonanza, Adam 12, The Bionic Boy, Dirty Dozen III and Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. In 1979 he was the ATP Rookie of the Year and in 1981, Van Patten defeated John McEnroe to win the Seiko World Super Tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan.
He’s equal parts Hollywood and approachable. He’s been a top flight athlete and a stud poker player. He’s a fierce competitor and yet totally chill to chat with. The guy has tried his hand at acting, pro tennis, writing, directing, producing and professional poker. Van Patten cashed at the Main Event in 2010 and for 10 seasons, he’s shared hosting duties (and tons of witty banter) with Mike Sexton on the Word Poker Tour.
The WPT airs on Fox Sports Net and is broadcast globally in over 150 countries. The 10th season of the WPT is sponsored by ClubWPT.com, a membership site that features a sweepstakes-based poker club and is available in 35 states in the US.
I had a chance to chat with Vince about tennis, high profile poker tournaments, his favorite players on the tour, common mistakes amateurs make, Mike Sexton’s gymnastic skills and quality celebrity poker players. Here’s the interview:
CS: What’s your favorite stop on the world poker tour?
VVP: I’m going to have to go with Paris.
CS: Paris? Yeah.
VVP: Yeah. We spent 12 days there this year because we get a lot of publicity for the European markets and all. I love to run and jog and everything so I ran all through Paris, played poker at the casino, just had a great time. It’s always so much fun. How do you beat that? But I have to tell you, right after that we went to Venice, Italy – just got back a few weeks ago – and it has the oldest casino in the world. It was built in the 1600s and that’s my favorite place – the most beautiful casino and I just had an amazing time there, too. That is the charm of the World Poker Tour. We truly do travel the world and we see the best casinos in the world.
CS: You guys also broadcast globally, for years now. Do you find that people recognize you when you go to these different venues across the world?
VVP: Yeah. You know I guess we got pretty popular over in Europe with the show because it’s showing throughout the world. So yeah, they all know Mike and I and it’s like family time even when we’re in Europe. It’s just like family.
CS: So I read today that Mike went to Ohio State on a full scholarship for gymnastics?
VVP: Yeah.
CS: Has he ever given you any gymnastics pointers?
VVP: He’s pretty humble about that.
CS: (laughs)
VVP: He obviously was as great athlete and then he retired from that and he has become a great poker player. But he doesn’t ever mention his gymnastics. I don’t know what happened. He always says his brother was even a better. Over the years we’ve played a little tennis, he tries that. He’s a good athlete so when he tries, even though he never played tennis, he wasn’t bad at that. He’s a good ping-pong player, too. He’s actually a decent athlete.
CS: So speaking of decent athletes, I know you beat John McEnroe back in 1981. How did that feel and was he pissed off?
VVP: Oh man I tell you, yeah. I beat him in ’81 at the Seiko tournament. And it’s great to beat the number one player, you know. I was top 25 in the world and to beat him was especially – because you know, he basically stole 5 points a match by intimidating the linesman.
CS: (laughs)
VVP: So when you can beat him and tries everything, everything to win—it doesn’t matter how he gets there, he wants to finish first. And I had to stay really strong and it was the win of my life and I’m very proud of it. If I was distracted for 10 seconds I would have lost, that’s how good I had to play, so it was a great accomplishment for me. I’m proud of it.
CS: Do you agree with McEnroe’s opinion that US tennis has hit an all-time low in terms of the talent that we put forward versus the rest of the world?
VVP: Well I think it was just a matter of time. The hungriest athletes are going to wind up being the best all things considered. So you figure, America are we hungry enough? Are we doing all the right things to breed the best tennis players? Now I do think that we do have, for some strange reason, our tennis players do have more heart than anyone in the world. So when an American player plays they have no quit in them. They don’t really have excuses. And I really respect the American athletes for that. But saying that, I think these other third world countries and over in Russia and these other countries all they have is to train their kids to be the best, that’s it. They know that to get out of the squalor they have to get out of, to live the good life, they have to give a little bit more. And that is showing and perhaps that’s why guys from, you know, Spain and Russia are becoming the best in the world.
CS: So you think that preparation is what provides that edge?
VVP: I do. I think it’s preparation. I think it’s desperation. And are we desperate enough to breed more champions in America? I think that is the question.
CS: Gotcha. So when you’re announcing tournaments do you think that plays to your advantage when you play against some of these same guys?
VVP: Absolutely. It’s a big advantage. Now just a couple of years ago they allowed us in the World Poker Tour – Mike and I – to start playing tournaments if we wanted to. And because of my family commitments with three children, I have chosen to play like one or two. But Mike has chosen to play and did quite well. He made the final table and I know that’s because of the history we have of seeing every move. You know it’s like we’re doing our homework week after week, week in and week out. We know the players so when we’re at the table and you’re up against these guys, yes, it’s going to help. It’s like studying the films in the NFL.
CS: Do some of the players get a little bit bitter about that?
VVP: Not at all. Nowadays everything is open. Everyone has the opportunity to look at every WPT tape and every great player and see their tendencies, you know?
CS: Right, it’s not just you guys.
VVP: Mike and I are forced to because we do the show and then we do the studio work, so we’re forced to. And we make our notes. So I play a lot of cash games still and when I meet them at the cash games, you know, I’ve taken the notes and I kind of know how these guys play. It does help.
CS: What do you think is more stressful? A high stakes cash game or some of these high profile tournaments?
VVP: I think usually you’re a tournament player or you’re a cash game player.
CS: Right.
VVP: I played the Main Event at the World Series and I cashed last year. Five days going. It’s fun, it’s a time commitment, and it’s a whole different groove you have to get into. Where cash, I love the feeling that you can play fast, you can bust out, you can take some money and walk away in two hours.
CS: Yeah leave whenever, right.
VVP: Yeah. Eat when you want.
CS: (Laughs)
VVP: And come back an hour later after a dinner break that you decide on. I like the freedom you have in a cash game. That saying, tournaments are usually profitable and feature guys with a different mentality. They love that and they won’t play a cash game. So it’s just completely different, both stressful in their own way. You’ve got to figure out what kind of animal you are and what you want to play.
CS: How do you keep yourself sharp at the table when you’re sitting down for a long day of poker playing?
VVP: If you want to be a winner you’d better know how to do that. You’ve got to know how to stay sharp. If you really don’t care, if you’re just there to have some fun and see how it goes, you know, you’ve given away a huge edge. You’re probably going to lose. I want to be worked out before, like exercise and everything. I want to feel good. I want to feel fresh. And I like getting in the game early because I want to know how these guys are playing. Who’s losing after three hours? It’s a big advantage.
CS: Right.
VVP: Who’s winning? How have they played? Really studying the table. So it’s just a matter of being attentive, wanting it bad, wanting a win result bad. It’s not even about the win result necessarily; it’s about how well are you playing. Are you winning on your own level of playing, you know? If you lost $5,000 that day, but any other ordinary player would lose $8,500, that’s a win in the long run. So that’s what you’ve got to really figure in to it all. I just like to feel good and confident and eager to be there. Otherwise I won’t be there.
CS: What are some of the biggest mistakes that amateur players make?
VVP: I see a lot of amateur players at a final table doing really well and they really do have a lot of tells still at the table, especially a lot of guys that came from online. And they’re projecting just too much. They’re giving away too many hints at the table, body language and shaking of their heads and all that. The really great ones don’t give you anything. They’re a wall. And that’s what you really have to attain, I believe, to be a great player. You can’t give away tells like that. And these guys sometimes don’t even know it.
CS: You mentioned internet poker. How do you think the US ban on internet poker has impacted the WPT over the years?
VVP: Oh I think a lot more online guys are now playing in casinos and playing in tournaments. I think it’s not much of a difference. I mean a lot of guys, you know they were doing well online, they had a lot of loose cash and now there’s not quite as many players with that kind of cash running around.
CS: Right.
VVP: Tightened things up a bit.
CS: Who is a player you think we should watch for this season in the World Poker Tour?
VVP: Well it’s always shocking because you get all these big names—you’ve got 500 big names in poker now, and then the final tables are all unknowns.
CS: Right.
VVP: You know there’s a list of young guys that are terrific and it’s the greatest game of all because there’s still that luck factor. And that means anyone can win and anyone can do it these days and become a TV star, a poker star. It is exciting. I’m a fan of Jonathan Little. I’m a fan of Doc Sands. That’s some of the younger guys. I think Will Failla – “Will the Thrill”– is an exciting player. I’m not going to put him in the class of his own—well he’s up there, he’s a fine player, but just for pure charisma I like “Will The Thrill.” Dwyte Pilgrim, great personality. I mean if “Will The Thrill” or Dwyte would have made it on the World Poker Tour in the first three seasons, they would have been the biggest things in poker, bar none. It’s just, as the years go by it just all gets diluted a little bit and you’ve got to fight a little bit harder for that stardom. But these guys are charismatic and interesting players and have a lot to say at the table. They make great TV time. So it is fun to watch. Still great. Better than ever.
CS: Who would you say is the most entertaining player at the table?
VVP: Well I always look out for Tony G.
CS: Yeah!
VVP: He’s really an air bag, you know.
CS: (Laughs) yeah.
VVP: He’s great with the insults and funny at the same time. And I’ll put Helmuth right up there, too. I still enjoy Phil Helmuth. You know he’s just fun to laugh at. His own frustrations out on the table, it’s classic. Those two guys are fantastic. So I enjoy the characters. I think most people really do. It’s just fun to watch when you see their cards, you see their frustration, you see what they’re doing, and on top of that they’re great players. It’s truly exciting.
CS: So do you think that Phil Helmuth or Tony G have mellowed out over the years or do they still bring the same ferocity each time?
VVP: Oh I think Helmuth has mellowed a little bit. I think he’s become such a big name in the game and he’s happy with his life and he’s made a lot of money with it, and actually he’s kind of getting it that “hey yeah, I was acting like kind of a jerk” and I’ll go along with some of that but, you know, I’ve seen him pull back too in a moment where he could have, you know, gone over the top like the old Phil.
CS: Right.
VVP: Now he’s sort of protecting himself, saying “hey I’m gonna roll with this one” and it’s good to see. As for Tony G I haven’t seen him play enough tournaments lately to see how crazy he gets. But he never was his own worst enemy. He never looked like the fool, in my opinion. He always made other people look like the fool.
CS: (laughs) right.
VVP: And he actually was kind of right. I mean he was just a great trash talker that could get underneath other people’s skin. Did he go too far? Yes, on many occasions. But he still was entertaining and he always helped his game and I never felt like “oh this guy’s an idiot”, you know? “He’s a fool”. Whereas others truly come off going “ugh, go home.”
CS: So what do you think is the most overrated starting hand in hold ‘em?
VVP: That’s a good question. Hmm … you know … I’m very open to hands. I just feel like every hand is either your best friend or your worst enemy. That goes for aces, that goes for ace-king, and jack-ten and diamonds and pair fours. I’ve seen so many that it’s just—you know more people get knocked out on ace-queen over the years than any other hand. So if you have to go with one that really seems to make a lot of people go broke I would say it’s ace-queen.
CS: Okay. Fair. Now what does an amateur player need to do to get to the next level, start appearing in tournaments and really step up their game?
VVP: I think an amateur player really has to study, know it, and get a better poker face.
CS: (laughs)
VVP: Take their ego out of the game, and really want it bad. You’ve got to hate to lose and love to win. And you’ve got to be 100% focused and excited or don’t bother. And you have to have great restraint when things are going bad. Do you have that character? Do you have the heart when things are going bad not to tick off? Not to go into a different mode of bad play? If you do, you’ll be the next superstar. If you don’t, you’ll be another hack and you should stay away.
CS: When poker players have success how much of it do you think is attributed to math, an analytical mindset and understanding the odds versus just a gut feeling that you get from a straight time-on task?
VVP: I think there’s 80% of the mathematical nowadays and about 20% of gut and moves and heart. But you know, you can know every move in poker. You can see every move and know what you’re supposed to do, but the tendencies to make a bad decision at that point are very great. Probably up to 80% you won’t do the right thing. Only the 20% of the top people are doing the right thing when they’re really supposed to. And that takes heart, character, wisdom and bravery.
CS: Do you think there should be a main event with only poker pros where you kind of get the best of the best squaring off against each other?
VVP: No. No I’ve always been against that, I think it’s boring. I think a lot of the top poker big names are very boring. A lot of unknown poker names are playing just as good poker, right? So you have to see better poker. What TV really needs to see is more characters
CS: Right.
VVP: You want to feature excellent, top notch players, but also the great characters of the game that have something to say, that’s good TV watching. Otherwise I don’t think it matters.
CS: Would you rather win Wimbledon or the World Series main event?
VVP: Oh. Well to be honest with you, I would be so excited to win the World Series of course, but there’s so much luck involved, you’d never get the appreciation or you could always say “yeah you know how lucky I had to be to get that run?”And I would know that. So that wouldn’t mean as much. You win Wimbledon, you know you are the best in the world. No one is better. There was no luck involved. So I think for me to win a major tennis event would be more satisfying.
CS: What kind of bankroll do I need to get in on those pot limit cash games in Beverly Hills?
VVP: It’ll vary now but when I was playing—and I’m still playing some but I’m playing smaller games now, not as big. But there’s so many games in Los Angeles that are like home games and I’m not playing but I’ve heard games are going where they play for $100,000, win or lose. But they have all different kinds of games where you can win or lose $2,000 to $10,000 to $20,000. Pick your choice of what you want to lose or win.
CS: (laughs)
VVP: All around town I get all kinds of texts about playing this game or playing that game, but I’m down to one a week and I play a nice social game and it’s just kind of fun.
CS: I know there are tons of celebrity poker players out there and you have the moniker of being the “King of the Hollywood Home Games.” Or at least previously like you said. Who are some underrated celebrities? I mean we know like the Ben Afflecks, Tobey Maguires and these kind of guys, but who’s little bit more under the radar?
VVP: Jennifer Tilly is a nice player. The girl who played in American Beauty – Mea Suvari, she’s a great player. She played our celebrity tournament and she’s like, really good. She had great instincts and a poker face and saw through people. She would be one in my opinion. Hank Azaria is a nice player.
CS: Does he do voices at the table?
VVP: Yeah (laughs) he’s always doing something.
CS: (Laughs)
VVP: Doing all kind of characters. He has a weekly game which I play once in a while and he does all kind of characters (laughs). But he loves poker, loves poker.
CS: Last question, who’s the nicest poker player out there? Like just the best all around person?
VVP: Andy Frankenberger.
CS: Okay.
VVP: I like Andy Frankenberger. I like his demeanor, I like his intelligence. He’s a classy guy. I respect him a lot. But there’s lot, there’s a lot of those guys.
Apr 9th
Budweiser Launches Track Your Bud Program
The King of Beers is launching a new online program to cater to tech-savvy beer drinkers of the 21st Century. That’s right, Bud’s going digital and bringing your brew to life with the a new campaign called “Track Your Bud.”
Have you ever wondered what went into that Bud you’re holding on game day or sipping at the bar? Where did this beer come from? Who gave birth to this brew? What kind of journey did it take to end up chilling in your hand?
Well now you can find out your beer’s entire backstory. The Track Your Bud program from Anheuser-Busch lets you trace the origins of your Budweiser bottle from farm to brewery to coozie. You can even learn about the brewmaster responsible for crafting your beer.
To get the full story of your Bud, just use your smartphone to scan the QR code located on your Budweiser packaging. You can download the Track Your Bud app or visit www.trackyourbud.com to learn about how your beer came to life. You can find out all about the beer-making process and discover where the hops and barley that went into your beer came from.
So next time you sip a Bud, spent a couple minutes and get a download of your brew’s personal history.
Mar 22nd
Last Day to Take the Guinness St. Patrick’s Day Party Pledge
St. Patrick’s Day is finally here. Before you map out your day-to-afternoon-to-evening drinking plans, why not spend a quick minute to help MANjr and Guinness set a new world’s record for the biggest St. Patrick’s Day bash of all time! Help this noble cause and you’ll feel better about yourself tomorrow. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Visit Guinness.com
2. Click “Count Me In”
3. Enter your first name, zip code and date of birth
4. Enter the promo code “MANJ”
That’s it! Get in on the action, drink Guinness responsibly and have a safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Mar 16th
Top Gear Season 17 DVD Giveaway
Top Gear is awesome. You know this already. It’s like the perfect balance of supercar porn, beautiful camera work, engaging personalities and the right amount of humor and celebrity banter. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have been doing Top Gear since the 2002 relaunch of the BBC television series (when James May replaced previous presenter Jason Dawe). The original version of Top Gear began in 1977 as a local series on BBC Birmingham. It ended up on BBC2 and until 2001. Clarkson has been at the helm of Top Gear, which one of the most popular television programs in Britain, since 1988.
The best thing about Top Gear is that the co-presenters have such great, genuine chemistry. Clarkson is witty, pompous, self-important and clever. He treads that fine line between arrogant snob and approachable everyman. Not an easy task, this.
Richard Hammond, that impish, big-smiled comic foil, fully embraces his role as a loveable hamster. He feels approachable, but still spends an awful lot of time whitening his teeth. In 2006, Hammond survived a serious car crash when the Vampire dragster he was driving crashed while traveling at 288 MPH. He made a full recovery and returned to his Top Gear hosting duties.
James May is the black sheep of the bunch. He’s always bringing up the rear in racing challenges. His car is always first one to break down. May has appeared in different programs about space travel, science fiction, toys and wine. He balances the wonder of a child with a sharp tongue and he carries an affable underdog vibe with him at all times.
And then there’s the Stig. Some say he’s a the mystery driver who sets lap times, trains all the Stars in the Reasonably Priced Cars and has cousins all over the world. But no one knows for certain who the Stig really is. We just know that he listens to some really weird stuff when driving around the track at top speed.
Season 17 kicks off with a 50th birthday bash for the Jaguar E-Type, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. Richard Hammond heads to South Africa to test out a Hummer on steroids and James May battles Amy Williams in Mini Rally Car race. Other highlights of the season include: a trip to Italy to test high performance hatchbacks; a head-to-head battle between the McLaren MP4-12C and the Ferrari 458 Italia; a comparison of the Jaguar XKR-S and the Nissan GT-R; demolition of derelict houses; a seaside evaluation of two electric cars (the Nissan Leaf and the Peugeot iOn); and celebrity laps from Alice Cooper, Ross Noble and Sebastian Vettel.
Mar 15th
Teva Fuse-Ion Review
Teva has always been known as brand that caters to outdoor enthusiasts. From water shoes to sandals that can take a beating, if you’ve ever tried to expose a pair of Teva shoes to the elements, you know these kicks are comfortable in the wild.
Lately though, the whole outdoor performance thing isn’t enough. Teva’s trying to focus on the dual-use factor. We received a pair of Teva Fuse-Ion shoes to review, and it’s clear that the company wants to offer the type of outdoor, elements-be-damned performance that you’d expect from the brand, while also providing a bit of everyday style to go along with the package. As the Teva website puts it, “We designed a shoe that you can wear to the bar, then made it the highest performing water shoe ever built. No big deal.”
So did they succeed in this effort? I think so.
From a performance/wetness-battling standpoint, the Teva Fuse-Ion uses Ion Mask material to keep the shoe extra dry. What’s Ion-Mask, you ask? It’s a nano-coating material that’s a thousand times thinner than human hair and molecularly bonds to a surface to provide extreme liquid repellency while still allowing for maximum breathability. Oh, and it’s also solvent-free and only uses tiny bits of protective monomer so it won’t have a negative impact on the environme Basically, shoe stays dry.
Other outdoorsy features of the shoe include the use of spider rubber technology for crazy grip (even in wet conditions) and a quick heel pop down feature that allows for instant slip on action. The pop down thing is pretty cool. Even if you’re not asking for extreme liquid repellency, and you just want to slip some shoes on real quick to take out the trash or something, you can slide your feet in there, totally stomp on the heel, and the heel part of the shoe will pop back into place, no problem.
As far as the “I can totally where this to the bar” factor, you can see that the shoe is pretty stylish. It doesn’t look like something developed by NASA in a lab or anything like that. They’re kind of form-fitting with a bit of a thin sole. If you have extra wide feet, you might find Fuse-Ion a bit restrictive, but not more restrictive than, say, your average pair of Adidas. Also, neon blue laces aren’t my thing, but the shoe pictured above also came with some light gray laces. I think those are the more subtle, bar-friendly play.
The Teva Fuse-Ion kicks retail for $90 and are available in black (pictured above), bungee cord (nice two-tone throwback action) or duck green (which, to me, has a bit of ninja turtle vibe going on). If you want a breathable shoe that can stay all kinds of dry and not look like some kind of futuristic aqua sock, you’ll find a nice middle ground with the Fuse-Ions.
Mar 15th
Wheat Thins March Madness Covert Fans Giveaway
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicks off tomorrow. If you’re like most people, you can’t just sit and enjoy all the games on your couch for the next three weeks. You still got a job. You still got stuff to do. But you’re not going to let a little thing like work stop you from enjoying March Madness, right? Of course not. You’re going to find a way to get work stuff done while multi-tasking all covert-like.
Luckily, we’re teaming up with Wheat Thins to hook up two lucky readers with Wheat Thins March Madness Covert Fans Survival Kits. What’s in these kits? Here’s what you’ll get:
- Mini basketball Wheat Thins backboard and basketball set
- Headset (for listening to the game and pretending to be on a conference call)
- Wheat Thins branded koozie
- 1 box of Original Wheat Thins Whole Grain
- 1 box of Smoky BBQ flavored Wheat Thins
- 1 Wheat Thins branded stressball
To enter the giveaway, just follow us on Twitter (@MANjrcom) and send us an email below. We’ll pick two winners at random by the end of the week.
And to get a jump start on your covert office-basketball watching skills, check out this important infographic:
Mar 14th
10 Best Films of 1998
Things were different in 1998. Back then, no one worried about stuff like subprime mortgages, record unemployment or Facebook status updates. In 1998 we were just wired differently. Boy bands and ska music filled the airwaves. Politicians were worried about blue dresses and naughty White House behavior. Dawson’s Creek was a hit show. People liked saying the word “globalization.” In 1998 it seemed like we were on the brink of some sort of altruistic interconnected global culture. And the US was leading the way. We were kings of the world.
Sure in ’98 the Euros made the Euro, but we blasted a 77-year old man into outer space just to say we could. We were riding high on a dot-com bubble that wouldn’t burst for another couple years. Michael Jordan was still playing basketball. Everything was coming together. We were comfortable.
It was just a different time, man. And there were different movies back then, too. Good ones. Lots of ‘em.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, 1998 is packed with quality movies. Just an all around good mix of films you can watch over and over. Anyone can pick out a decent list of 10-15 films from just about any year. But there’s just something about these 1998 selections that, as a whole, give this year in film an extra level of distinction.
So here’s the list. It’s totally subjective and by no means comprehensive. It’s just 10 movies from 1998 that deliver nostalgic entertainment value, repeat viewability, quotable quotes and a high level of goodness.
10. Saving Private Ryan
This film has to make the cut. It’s less cerebral than The Thin Red Line and it has just the right amount of schmaltz. If I needed to dial up a gritty, big-budget WWII drama, I’d probably reach for Band of Brothers or even The Pacific, but those projects would’ve never been made without the success of this film. Quality acting and decent directing by Steven Spielberg (back when he still had the touch). Smash at the box office, 11 Academy Award nominations, you get the idea. This isn’t a film you can watch weekly, but if you haven’t seen it in awhile, it’s worth a revisit.
9. There’s Something About Mary
Might not hold up as well anymore, but if you saw this in the theaters you remember what a gut-buster it was. It was just a different type of comedy for the time. In the world of 2012, Ben Stiller’s been relegated to making movies called Heist Tower with Eddie Murphy, but in the world of 1998, Ben Stiller was about to blow up. His performance in There’s Something About Mary was classic. Plus, Cameron Diaz was attractive back then.
8. Can’t Hardly Wait
I know, this one’s all cheese. Trip McNeally. 92% The beer has gone bad. Did anyone order a loveburger? Well done.
7. Rushmore
I used to love anything that Wes Anderson did. I kind of scaled back my Wes Anderson appreciation over the years, but it’s hard not love this movie.
6. Run Lola Run
Don’t worry, it’s okay to scream in the casino.
5. Fear Loathing in Las Vegas
Some movies trip you out for a scene or two, but this entire film is one big head change. I was trippin’ balls after I saw this in theater during my first date with my now-fiancée. It’s the kinda film that makes you want ice water with extra ice.
4. The Big Lebowski
At first I didn’t get what all the fuss was about, but this is definitely a movie that gets better with repeat viewings.
3. Rounders
Pay heem hees money!
2. The Negotiator
This movie made the top three? I wonder why that is. You got two actors in their prime: Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson. This is Spacey, after The Usual Suspects and before the American Beauty overhype and Sam L, before he became a Jedi. And David Morse, you just know he isn’t a good person any time he walks on screen in any film.
1. The Siege
Pre-9/11 New York is under attack by terrorists. Denzel Washington doesn’t support torture. He’s better than that. He won’t let the fight against terrorism threaten our civil liberties. But Hawkish, internment-lover general Bruce Willis stands in his way. With the help of Annette Benning (a shorthaired spy-floozy) and Tony Shalhoub (an Arab federal agent named “Frank”), Denzel must stand up for Tariq Husseini and find the last cell before the terrorists strike again…
“Samirrrrrr!”
Man, is this movie fantastic.
Honorable Mention
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Wild Things
Ronin
Croupier
Safe Men
Armageddon
A Simple Plan
What’d I miss?
Mar 11th
Use Promo Code “MANJ” on Gunniess.com – Get in on the Biggest St. Patrick’s Day Party EVER
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up quick everyone, so remember to take a minute to get in on the biggest shamrock themed party of all time. We’ve told you all about Guinness and there efforts to break a world record this St. Patty’s Day. Well we need you to join the party, pal! The World Record for the Biggest St. Patrick’s Day Party EVER isn’t going to set itself, you know.
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Thanks again for your support and have a safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Mar 10th
Kenny Smith Interview
Kenny “The Jet” Smith is no stranger to people who follow the game of basketball. An All-American point guard from North Carolina, Kenny still holds the record for career assists by a Tar Heel (769 – including 86 in NCAA Tournament play). He was the sixth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft and a two-time NBA Champion with the Houston Rockets. He could distribute, drop outside jumpers, glide inside and as soon as his playing days were done, Kenny Smith went straight into broadcasting. He’s been a fixture on TNT since the 1997-1998 regular season.
Leading up to the 2012 NCAA Tournament, Smith is working with Coke Zero to promote the Coke Zero School Shout Out and Enjoy More Madness campaigns. We sat down with Kenny before the All-Star break to chat about the NBA, the NCAA Tournament, the Coke Zero tournament tie-ins and his TNT broadcasting crew. Here’s the interview:
CS: Hey Kenny, who gets further in the NBA playoffs this season, the Clippers or the Lakers?
KS: Wow. As it stands, before possible trades or anything could happen?
CS: Yeah, as the teams stand currently.
KS: As the teams are constructed as they are now, I would say that the Los Angeles Lakers still have an advantage over the Clippers.
CS: I know you know all about trade rumors. You were traded by the Kings to the Hawks and from Atlanta to the Rockets. With the all of the Pau trade rumors making the rounds lately let me ask you, did trade rumors impact your performance when you played the game?
KS: You think about them, but when the game starts you don’t. You only think about it when you get asked in the media before and after games. There’s been great players—I’ve stood next to two of the greatest players that ever played the game, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. They’ve been traded. So there’s no reason why Pau Gasol would think that he couldn’t be traded, or any other player, because the greatest players in the world are wanted by other teams. So that’s what it is. It’s not so much someone doesn’t want you, it’s other teams want you.
CS: Right, I gotcha. After all the compliments and sunshine do you think Kobe Bryant has given management the okay to get rid of Pau?
KS: No, I just think that as a player on the team, you know, Kobe knows his window of winning championships is short and he’s like “can we figure out what’s going on right now?” I don’t think he would have made the same statement if it was his second year in the NBA.
CS: Yeah, fair.
KS: But being as, you know, he’s got two to three really good years left he’s like “no I gotta make a statement, cause I gotta figure out not only for me—for the team, but for me as well.” So I think that’s when you see that frustration. But Kobe Bryant 4, 5 years ago was asking to be traded to Dallas.
CS: Right.
KS: So he’s been part of this. Every player has been part of this type of situation before.
CS: You played for six different NBA franchises, which team do you think had the best combo of ownership and front office people?
KS: Well I would have to—I played with the Rockets the longest, you know. I played with the Rockets for 7 ½ years so I would say that that combination of understanding players and understanding management, the relationship, I would say, with the Rockets was easily—far easily the best.
CS: Who was the most difficult player you ever had to defend?
KS: Anyone on a hot streak in the NBA. You know because someone says, “hey I gotta play against Chris Paul tonight.” Chris Paul might not play well. And then you get a Jeremy Lin who comes in. A guy who hadn’t been playing and then he gives you 25 points and 11 assists. So the NBA is really about timing, about when you meet guys up, you know. So I don’t think that you can just say “the toughest guy is” on that level. There’s guys who are far ahead. In my era—the Jordan era, he was far above a lot of even the superstar players. But when you get to the superstars, the great players, they’re all difficult to defend and to play against.
CS: Would the Rockets have won those titles if Jordan never retired? Be honest Kenny!
KS: Well, he actually—he played one year. I just can’t help it he was wearing number 45 but…
CS: (Laughs)
KS: He lost to the Orlando Magic. You know they had the opportunity when he came back so I think that we would have won and we already did. We’ve proven that we won when he played. He just didn’t play the first year.
CS: Where do you think Hakeem ranks all time?
KS: In terms of centers or players?
CS: In terms of centers.
KS: Well, he’s definitely in the top five. But when you say the top five centers of all time it’s like picking a banana over an orange, you know what I mean? It’s just a personal choice. And what team are you building around. But Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the top 5 centers of all time.
CS: Speaking of top 5 centers, what’s it like having Big Diesel on the TNT set?
KS: Lots of fun. I think Shaq is finding his niche every day, we’re enjoying having him. He doesn’t have to be the best player on the team, or the most dominant (laughs). He can just come in and be part of the show and have a great deal of fun and that’s what he’s doing.
CS: Tell me something about Charles Barkley that the public might not already know.
KS: About Charles?
CS: Yeah.
KS: Wow. He’s a gym rat.
CS: Really?
KS: A habitual gym rat. Meaning he watches a bunch of basketball on off days. And he’s a movie buff. He can tell you not only the movie, but he can tell you the actors in it. And not the main actors, but the supporting actors.
CS: (Laughs)
KS: He knows those supporting actors names that I would never know.
CS: Do you think that E.J. gets enough respect and recognition for being a total badass?
KS: I think—I think he does. I think people recognize it now. They know what he does and how good he is to our show and how much he has to facilitate things and make them happen.
CS: So you’ve been on TV now longer than you were actually a player in the NBA. Did you always know that you wanted to go the TV route?
KS: No. This is something new—I mean it was new when I first started it. I knew I would be in basketball, I didn’t know that this would be the route. But I’m enjoying the fact that I am and it’s a lot of fun. I really did not know that I would be in television, but I knew I would be in basketball in some type of way.
CS: Now what are your thoughts on that crazy Jumbotron thing that I see on the set? Where you have to go and like stand around life-sized players and stuff. Do you like that? Is it kind of gimmicky or weird? What’s that like in person?
KS: I mean it gives a better perspective because sometimes I can actually show you the position that the defender or the offensive player should have been in. So I can actually be in that spot and say “he should have been here and not over here because the space is not good enough.” So sometimes it’s great, other times I just have fun with it because it’s a really big TV. (Laughs).
CS: (Laughs).
KS: So it’s a little bit of both.
CS: So are you going to be working as an analyst for March Madness again this year?
KS: Yeah I’ll be doing the March Madness. I’ll be doing it with Turner and CBS and that’s why I’m basically on the talking with you now because we’re doing a big promotion with Coke Zero where college basketball fans get a chance to enjoy more Madness and show their school spirit by texting [in the Coke Zero School Shout Out program]. It basically gives kids an opportunity and fans an opportunity by texting “zero” plus their team name to “2653” and they can win free access to March Madness live, which now you have to pay for but you can get it on your Android phone and you can get it on your iPhone phone and you can watch March Madness live for free. And put yourself in for a chance to win tickets to the final four, so I’m all over it.
CS: So do you expect your Tar Heels to cut the Nets down this year? Or if not, who you got?
KS: There’s never a year I don’t expect.
CS: (Laughs)
KS: This year I’ll just expect more (laughs). I just expect more in other years and this year I expect more. I think we have everything that you have. Do we have good guard play? Yes we do. Do we have good inside play? Yes we do. Do we have a great coach? Oh, yes we do. So we have all of the makings of what it would be. Do we have experience? Yeah. We have all the basics to be an NCAA champion.
CS: Do you think this is the year of the mid major?
KS: I don’t think they’re the mid major anymore. I think mid major—that phrase should be eliminated in sports, in NCAA. Because of the fact that so many schools, you know, the top players don’t stay for 4 years or 3 years anymore. Every school has a legitimate chance to win the NCAA championship this year. So I don’t call them mid’s anymore, I just call them season teams now. They’re guys like Butler last year, they had juniors and seniors on their team you know, and that’s the difference from years past.
CS: Who do you like in terms of tournament sleepers this year?
KS: I think once they get out of the league play and we see who actually wins at tournaments, then we get an opportunity to see. Even like let’s say last year we—speaking of Jeremy Lin—but Harvard last year, they were coming out of the Ivy League last year and I was like “Wow, Tommy Amaker’s got these guys playing. They could actually play around and upset a team; they’re not your traditional Ivy League school.” And then they lost and didn’t make the tournament you know? (Laughs)
CS: Yeah. (Laughs)
KS: So we gotta see like how it plays out a little bit over these next weeks or so.
CS: What do you think about Gonzaga’s chances?
KS: I think Gonzaga’s a really good team. You know, they had some inconsistencies at times, but I think they’re a really good team. You know, Murray State’s come out of nowhere. But I mean a school sometimes—say like Florida State who has beaten Duke and North Carolina. They could play around and lose in the first round of the playoffs in the ACC tournament and then be one of those bubble teams you know?
CS: I gotcha.
KS: They’re the team that could beat Duke or North Carolina and may be on the bubble. But that’s what I’m saying, you have to kind of wait and play everything out over these next couple of weeks.
CS: If I had to press you right now for your final four picks what would you say?
KS: I think—I think it’s impossible to pick that right now. Only because I can tell you Duke vs. North Carolina and then all of a sudden they’re in the same region. You know what I mean?
CS: (Laughs) right.
KS: So it kind of—it gets more dictated by who you’re seeded against and where’s your region? Are you a 1 or a 2 in your region and who else is in your region? So that’s what I’m saying, we’ve still got to kind of play out the ACC tournament, the Pac-10 tournament and so forth.
CS: Do you think we’ll ever see a point where college basketball players get paid to stay all four years? Like some kind of reward for sticking around?
KS: I think that guys should get paid if they stay four years and graduate.
CS: Okay, that’s fair.
KS: Key word being graduate. I think they should get a stipend of what’s been made during their—like a percentage. You know, 3% of what’s been made at your university to basketball while you were there. Or 2%, whatever it is. But I think that the amount of money that is generated—and if you stay and you graduate, you should be able to participate in financially after you graduate of what you’ve done.
CS: Right right.
KS: Because a college education doesn’t really add up a lot of times to what they bring in. It’s not an equal agreement.
CS: Yeah, I gotcha. Switching back to the NBA, do you think Lin’s the real deal?
KS: Yeah, Lin’s the real deal. You can’t go this long and not be the real deal.
CS: Do you think “feel good” stories like Linsanity or Tebow-Mania can reach a point of oversaturation where other players start getting sick of the headlines? Like Deron Williams said the other day?
KS: Well, Deron was sick because he was the one who it started on.
CS: Oh right, true.
KS: Yeah. He was the guy that it started on so he had a personal agenda to let everyone know “you know what, I’m still a top three guard in the league. Like if you could name three guards, I don’t know if you can name 3 guards better than me.” And that’s what great players do. They do that every night. They don’t show that just against Lin. But they circle a lot of games. I think what’s great about Lin is we’ve all at one time in our life had been misevaluated in terms of our talent. And he just kicked in the door and shows that you don’t have to be a great Xs and Os guy or a personable coach, you’ve got to be able to evaluate talent. And you know— he’s every underdog story if you think about it. His ethnicity, that’s been a question. The fact that he’s been in the D league, that’s been a question. The fact that he didn’t go to a perennial powerhouse school for basketball, that’s been—like we all understand some part of what he is. That’s what makes his story so great.
CS: Do you think Seattle deserves another chance at an NBA team?
KS: Oh yeah. I mean that was one of the most fun cities to play in when they were the Supersonics. I mean that was—they had so much support. I was surprised that—I mean, I felt that they’d never not had a basketball franchise because of the enthusiasm that was there.
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Time was short, so I had a bunch of questions that didn’t get asked, but just wanted to say thanks again to Kenny Smith for taking the time to chat with us. Make sure you guys check out all the Coke Zero prize-winning action leading up to and throughout the NCAA tournament this year. Check out our post or visit EnjoyMoreMadness.com to learn more.
Mar 5th
